4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving

Simple. Major in prayer that is seasoned with thanksgiving. Make prayer the priority peppered with thanksgiving.  Oh that this simple command could become the staple of every person who calls themselves a follower of Christ, beginning with this writer. Pray and be thankful when doing it.

Lord help me to apply this one simple truth to my life today, help it to bring about the change you desire.

5:15 Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise, 5:16 taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 5:17 For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise ²²  by understanding ²³  what the Lord’s will is. 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, which ²⁴  is debauchery, ²⁵  but be filled by the Spirit, ²⁶  5:19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music ²⁷  in ²⁸  your hearts to the Lord, 5:20 always giving thanks to God the Father for each other ²⁹  in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5:21 and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. ³⁰ 

Did I ever need this verse this morning. Verse 14 says “Awake o sleeper”. God always brings the right words at the right time. I desperately need to digest and chew on this chapter today.

Lord help me to take this chapter to heart. Let it impact me.  Let it change me. Let it move me.  I want to washed by you. Help me today Lord. 

24:44 Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.⁶²

He is coming. Be ready is the warning from Christ in this chapter. He is coming at a time that he will not be expected. This verse should impact us every day. We should live expectantly awaiting his return to this earth. We live in a world that is not expecting his return, even among Christians there is very little attention given to this verse or this principle. He is coming. He is coming very soon.

Lord help me to live today expectantly. Help me to live in eager anticipation of  your return. Help me to live as though this is not my home, but that you are coming to take me to an eternal home. Lord I love you.

21:1 Now¹ when they approached Jerusalem² and came to Bethphage,³ at the Mount of Olives,⁴ Jesus sent two disciples, 21:2 telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you.⁵ Right away you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 21:3 If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’⁶ and he will send them at once.” 21:4 This⁷ took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:⁸

21:5 “Tell the people of Zion,⁹

‘Look, your king is coming to you,

unassuming and seated on a donkey,

and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”¹⁰

21:6 So¹¹ the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 21:7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks¹² on them, and he sat on them. 21:8 A¹³ very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 21:9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those following kept shouting,¹⁴ “Hosanna¹⁵ to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!¹⁶ Hosanna in the highest!” 21:10 As he entered Jerusalem the whole city was thrown into an uproar,¹⁷ saying, “Who is this?” 21:11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth¹⁸ in Galilee.”

This event, the so-called “triumphal entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem just amazes me everytime I read it. The Creator of the Universe riding on a donkey into Jerusalem. My mind tries to wrap itself around the enormity of that event. There was some celebration, but if only the hard hearted had realized who was riding into their city. If only they had realized that the God who had revealed himself to all of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,Joseph, Moses,David, Isaiah and on and on, was riding into their city not on a brilliant white stallion but on a donkey. They should have known. Daniel told them exactly when it would happen. But they would not and did not understand the times. Can you imagine the impact had they known who he really was? I try and imagine the impact on that city if all recognized Jesus for who he really was. Again I can not fathom it. I know that one day very soon, he will go back to that City and he will leave no doubt the second time.

Lord I do know who it was that rode into Jerusalem 2000 years ago. Help me today to tell others what impact you have had on my life. Help me to be open to sharing this with others in my life.  Bring circumstances to bear in my life today that allow for the opportunities. Lord I love you.

19:3 Then some Pharisees³ came to him in order to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful⁴ to divorce a wife for any cause?”⁵ 19:4 He answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female,⁶ 19:5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?⁷ 19:6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Crystal clear. We make so much of it, try in every way to make the Word say something it does not say. We justify in our minds and yet Jesus could not have spoken any clearer here. The goal is one, from 2. If we stuck to his plan our lives would be so much easier, but we have a million excuses.  And so we sew discord into our lives, and into our childrens lives.  Most of all we hurt the cause of our Saviour. He has given us clear instructions and we ignore them and suffer the consequences.

Lord I pray for a renewed commitment to your commands in this area Lord. I want to glorify you in this area of my life. Help to hold up my marriage to the standard you have raised for me. I love you Lord.

17:6 When the disciples heard this, they were overwhelmed with fear and threw themselves down with their faces to the ground. 17:7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Do not be afraid.” 17:8 When they looked up, all they saw was Jesus alone.

It is verse 8 that struck me. Fear overwhelmed them and they threw themselves to the ground, but when they finally looked opened their eyes all they saw was Jesus alone. How true is this verse in every situation that we have fear or anxiety. When we open our spiritual eyes and look he is the only one there. There are no situations, problems,complications,dilemmas,issues,obstacles, predicaments that he is not there, and he is above them all. He alone has power to bring through and/or solve. No One Else. So who better to see when you are in a problem but Jesus alone.

Lord help me to see you alone Lord in every situation in my life. Help me to show you alone to others. I thank you for this amazing simple truth Lord.

16:13 When¹⁵Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi,¹⁶ he asked his disciples,¹⁷ “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 16:14 They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,¹⁸ and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16:16 Simon Peter answered,¹⁹ “You are the Christ,²⁰ the Son of the living God.” 16:17 And Jesus answered him,²¹ “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood²² did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven

It is the only question that really matters. Who do people say the Son of Man is? The answer to that question determines destinies. It is a question I need ask each day as a follower of Christ. When I rise, “who do I say you are?”  And then when righfully answered the “Christ, the Son of the Living God”, the rest of my day should flow from that foundation that He is my Lord and my Saviour.  I need to give him his proper place in my life at the beginning of my day and lay my agenda down and pick up his. I need to allow him to be Lord of my life.

Lord you are “the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Help me today to ascribe that place to you in my life, to allow you to have that preeminent place in my life, ruling and reigning over my mind and heart. Lord only you are worthy. I love you.

15:18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. 15:19 For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 15:20 These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.”²⁴

Our hearts are wicked. And yet our generation is so willing to feed that wicked heart and pour wicked things into our minds under the guise of christian liberty. We input tiny pinches of the only thing that can wash that wickedness away, Gods Word used by the Holy Spirit and we pour in vast amounts of the world’s media that contains all of the stuff mentioned in verse 19. We keep it full for sure. We need to turn that upside down, and begin taking in vast amounts of God and his Word and stop polluting our minds with the stuff that grieves the Holy Spirit. It is a very simple principle.

Lord help me today to put this into practice.

13:18 “So listen to the parable of the sower: 13:19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one25 comes and snatches what was sown in his heart;26 this is the seed sown along the path. 13:20 The27 seed sown on rocky ground28 is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 13:21 But he has no root in himself and does not endure;29 when30 trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away. 13:22 The31 seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth32 choke the word,33 so it produces nothing. 13:23 But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands. He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”34

One of my favorite parables. Johnny Mac does a beautiful job of expositing this parable in his book the Gospel According to Jesus. Everytime I read the parable I marvel at the number of ways in which the word is not fruitful. Nothing is ever said about the sower in this parable. The seed appears to be cast onto each of the soils in exaclty the same manner and yet it ultimately bears fruit in only one. It is all about the soil. And the only one that can truly prepare the soil to receive the Word if the Lord himself. And so we should pray fervently that God would take and make the soil of the hearts of the people we are going to come across today, make the soil fertile and ready for the Word.

Lord I ask today that you would help me to remember that it is you that must prepare the hearts of those you desire to hear your words. Help me to remember that when people don’t accept your Word, or accept at first and then seem to fall away, it is because their hearts were not prepared. Lord give me a heart that desires to pray for willing and well tilled hearts. Even today allow those in my path to be receptive to your Word. I love you Lord

12:22 Then they brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. Jesus²⁹ healed him so that he could speak and see.³⁰ 12:23 All the crowds were amazed and said, “Could this one be the Son of David?” 12:24 But when the Pharisees³¹ heard this they said, “He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebul,³² the ruler³³ of demons!” 12:25 Now when Jesus³⁴ realized what they were thinking, he said to them,³⁵ “Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed,³⁶ and no town or house divided against itself will stand. 12:26 So if³⁷ Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 12:27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons³⁸ cast them³⁹ out? For this reason they will be your judges. 12:28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God⁴⁰ has already overtaken⁴¹ you. 12:29 How⁴² else can someone enter a strong man’s⁴³ house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can thoroughly plunder the house.⁴⁴ 12:30 Whoever is not with me is against me,⁴⁵ and whoever does not gather with me scatters.⁴⁶ 12:31 For this reason I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy,⁴⁷ but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 12:32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven.⁴⁸ But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven,⁴⁹ either in this age or in the age to come.

The so-called unforgiveable sin. In context, it is quite plain. In verse 22 Jeus heals a blind and mute man. The crowds are blown away in verse 23. In verse 24 they attribute his power to Satan. Jesus then supernaturally understands their thoughts and points out how foolish their argument is in verses 25-27. Basically he says “Satan is not going to cast himself out” that is foolishness. And then in verse 28 he explains that if he did cast out the demons via the Holy Spirit that the Kingdom of God is here now. He reiterates in verse 29 with another example that the demons are not leaving unless somethign or someone more powerful throws them out.  And then the key verse, verse 30: Whoever is not with me, is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. You are on one side or the other, you are either helping to further his kingdom or you are helping to divide it. With that in mind he finishes with verse 31 saying that if you see the Holy Spirit do miraculous works and you then attribute those works to Satan, you are clearly against me. This sin will not be forgiven. It is almost a self evident thought, because the people who would commit this do not have desire to be forgiven anyway! But it does speak to the seriousness which Jesus gave to the Holy Spirits work in our lives.

Lord implant deeply this truth into my heart. Help me to walk close to you today. I love you Lord.